CIA Drone Strike Kills 26 in Pakistan, Raising Tensions

By

Zahid Hussain

Updated April 23, 2011 12:01 a.m. ET

ISLAMABAD—Missiles fired by a CIA drone in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region killed at least 26 people in the latest in a series of strikes that have inflamed tensions between the U.S and Pakistan.

The pilotless predator drone operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency fired at least 10 missiles at a mud-brick compound in a predawn attack Friday, a Pakistani intelligence official said. At least three women were among the dead.

A local tribal elder said the compound was used by suspected militants. "The entire compound was turned into rubble. Some women and children were also believed to have been killed in the strike," the elder, Mehboob Jan, said.

U.S. officials in Washington defended the strike and lashed out at the Pakistanis for not doing more themselves against militants in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

"It's the responsibility of the U.S. government to protect Americans, and counterterrorism operations in Pakistan protect the Pakistanis, too. If the Pakistanis won't themselves take action against terrorists, then others should," a U.S. official said.

The U.S. has brushed aside growing calls from Pakistani leaders for the drone campaign to be curtailed. Such attacks, which have escalated in the past two years, are hugely unpopular with the Pakistani public.

Meantime, hundreds of militants attacked a Pakistani security post along the Afghan border, killing at least 14 army soldiers. The ambush in the remote lower Dir district underscored the growing strength of the militants despite a military offensive against them.

Friday's U.S. drone strike came a day after Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani sharply criticized the strikes, saying the attacks complicated Pakistan's "national" war against the militants.

The drones have frequently struck North Waziristan, the main haven of al Qaeda and the Haqqani network, a faction of the Afghan Taliban that regularly attacks North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a visit Wednesday to Islamabad, accused elements of Pakistan's military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, of continuing to support the Haqqani network.

A Pakistani military statement on Thursday rejected what it called "negative propaganda" by the U.S. Pakistan's Gen. Kayani said his troops' multiple offensives against insurgent groups in the northwest are evidence of Pakistan's "national resolve to defeat terrorism."

A predator strike last month in the lawless northwest region that allegedly killed some 40 tribesmen angered Pakistani military leaders. In a rare public condemnation, Gen. Kayani called that raid "intolerable and unjustified."

Pakistan-U.S. relations sank to a new low this year after Raymond Davis, an American CIA contractor, shot dead two Pakistanis who allegedly tried to rob him in the Pakistani city of Lahore in January.

Mr. Davis, who faced murder charges, was freed last month after the U.S. government paid compensation to the families of the dead men.

Despite the increasingly heated rhetoric, no side wants to break the partnership, which is critical for both allies. While Pakistan depends heavily on American military and financial aid, Washington needs the support of Islamabad to help fight the Taliban in the border areas with Afghanistan.

During Friday's Taliban attack against the security checkpost in the northwest, heavily armed militants struck before dawn and fighting was still raging. It wasn't clear how many militants were killed, local government officials said.

Pakistan's military has launched repeated operations in the troubled northwestern region, but has failed to establish peace there. Thousands of people have been killed in the militant violence and more than a million displaced.

—Adam Entous in Washington and Rehmat Mehsud in Islamabad contributed to this article.

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